Suspendable furniture assembly



Aug. 15, 1961 N. D- OLSON SUSPENDABLE FURNITURE ASSEMBLY Filed Dec. 30, 1959 I Nor-a1 D. Olson INVENTOR AHW Z United States Patent 2,996,193 SUSPENDABLE FURNITURE ASSEMBLY Noral D. Olson, Seattle, Wash., amignor to Northwest '91:?! Co., Tacoma, Wash, a corporation of Washm on Filed Dec. '30, 1959, Ser. No. 862,979 Claims. (Cl. 211-90) This invention relates to furniture assemblies of the class which may be suspended on walls or other structural units.

It is the general object of the present invention to provide a suspendable furniture assembly which may be composed of multiple furniture units including shelves, cases, drawers, cabinets, dressers, mirrors, and the like hung from a wall or other support.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a furniture assembly which, though spaced from the floor, does not rest on legs and hence renders the floor area easily accessible for cleaning.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a furniture assembly the component units of which are easily mounted and demounted from supports on which they are mounted.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a furniture assembly the component units of which may be disposed in a multiplicity of different arrangements in the first instance, and which may be re-arranged as desired during the service life of the assembly.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a furniture assembly the component units of which can not become dislodged inadvertently during use even though they are locked releasably to the support from which they are hung.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a furniture assembly which does not require intricate special hardware for its assembly.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a furniture assembly the component units of which are relatively inexpensive to manufacture, being simple in construction and not requiring back panels.

The manner in which the foregoing and other objects of the invention are accomplished will be apparent from the accompanying specification and claims considered together with the accompanying drawings, wherein like numerals of reference indicate like parts and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a foreshortened perspective view of a shelf assembly constructed and mounted in the manner disclosed herein; and

FIGS. 2 and 3 are sectional views along line 3-3 of FIG. 1 illustrating the connector employed in suspending the shelf and its manner of application.

Broadly considered, the suspendable furniture assembly of my invention comprises a pair of standards at least one of which has a socket means in its longitudinal inner side edge, and both of which are arranged vertically in spaced relation to each other.

-A shelf, cabinet, or other furniture unit including a cross piece and at least one downwardly extending side piece is suspended on the face of the standards, the inside edge of the side piece substantially registering with the side edge of the standard bearing the socket.

The inner face of the side piece is also provided with socket means located below the cross piece and outwardly from the standards. A connector, preferably a U-shaped rod, is inserted in both socket means, thereby suspending the unit on the standards.

Considering the foregoing in greater detail and with particular reference to the drawings:

In the form of the invention selected for illustration a shelf is employed as the furniture unit. It is to be understood, however, that other types of furniture units "ice including drawers, cabinets, desks, dressers, mirrors, etc., may be used in any selected combination to build up any particular furniture combination, such as might be used in a bedroom, studio, play room, or work room.

The units are suspendable from standards 10 which may be free standing or, preferably, affixed to a wall by suitable means such as screws 12. They are spaced apart by a distance commensurate with the width of the furniture units to be suspended from them. At least one of them is provided with an opening 14 in its inner longitudinal edge. Preferably both standards have such openings on their inner edges and are used in conjunction with still other standards, not illustrated, in building up the furniture assembly.

Thus a shelf 16 is supported on a pair of side pieces or brackets 18. At least one of the side pieces has on its inner face an opening 20 located below cross piece 16 but outwardly from the face of standard 10. The back side edge of cross piece 16 is recessed to form a slot or recess 22 having a vertical side wall 23.

The shelf is hung from the standards by means of connectors 24, each of which preferably comprises a U-shaped member including legs 26, 28 connected by cross bar 30. Upper leg 26 is dimensioned for reception in opening 14 in the standard. Lower leg 28 is dimensioned for reception in opening 20 in the shelf side piece. There thus are formed two pin and socket assemblies which may be used for suspending the shelf.

The manner of accomplishing this function is illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. With the furniture unit spaced outwardly from the standards, the extremities of connector 24 are inserted one in the standard opening and the other in the shelf side piece opening. Connectors may be employed in this manner on one or both sides of the unit.

The shelf then is lowered from the position of FIG. 2 to the position of FIG. 3 whereupon cross bar 30 of the connector seats in recess 22 of the shelf side piece. The back end walls 27 of the side pieces, as well as the back side edge 29 of the shelf, abut firmly against the faces 31 of standards 10. The clearance between the upper end of connector 24 and recess 22 in which it seats is restricted, preventing inadvertent withdrawal of the connector from opening 14.

Other furniture units may be hung in a similar manner, above, below, or beside the one first hung thereby constructing the desired furniture assembly. Furthermore, merely by reversing the procedure outlined above the assembly may be taken down unit by unit as desired for removal or re-arrangement.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention herein shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of my invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A suspendable furniture assembly comprising in combination a pair of standards at least one of which is provided with socket means in its inner longitudinal side edge, a furniture unit suspended from the standards and including a cross piece and at least one side piece the inside edge of which substantially registers with the inside side edge of the standard bearing the socket means and the back edge abuts against the face of the standard, the inner face of said side piece being provided with socket means spaced downwardly from the top of the unit and outwardly from the standards, a connector having one end freely inserted in the socket means of the standard and'the other end freely inserted in the socket means of the side piece, thereby suspending the unit on the standard, and means on the end of the cross piece adjacent the openings therein and wherein theconnector is a substantially U-shaped member proportioned for insertion therein.

3. The furniture assembly of. claim 2 wherein a plurality of vertically spaced openings are provided in the standard to enable mounting the furniture unit in a selected vertical position 4. A suspendable furniture assembly comprising in combination a pair of spaced standards having vertically spaced openings in their longitudinal side edges, a furniture unit suspended from the faces of the standards and including side pieces extending downwardly from a cross piece, the inside edges of the side pieces substantially registering with the inside side edges of the standards, the inner face of each of the side pieces being provided with an opening spaced downwardly from the cross piece and outwardly from the standards, and a substantially U-shaped connector having end portions inserted, one in the opening in the standard and the other in a selected opening in the side piece, the cross piece being recessed to accommodate the connector when thus positioned, and the wall of the recess acting as a stop to prevent inadvertent withdrawal of the connector from the opening in the standard.

5. A suspendable furniture assembly comprising in combination a pair of standards at least one provided with socket means in its inner longitudinal side of which is edge, a furniture unit suspended from the standards and including .a cross. piece and at least one side ,piece the inside edge of which substantially registers with the inside side edge of the standard bearing the socket means, the inner face of said side piece being provided with socket means spaced downwardly from the top of the unit and outwardly from the standards, and a connector having one end in the socket means of the standard and the other in the socket means of the side piece, thereby suspending the unit on the standard, the socket means on the standard and side piece comprising lateral openings therein and the connector comprises a substantially U-shaped member proportioned for insertion therein, the opening in the standard being behind the cross-piece of the furniture unit, the cross piece being recess to receive the connector, the side wall of the recess being adjacent the connector and stopping the same from working out of the opening during use of the unit.

References Cited in the fileofthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

